Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
scientists at ISU who were favorable toward sustainable agriculture—
chiefly Jerry DeWitt, the director of the Extension Service, and John
Pesek, the chair of the agronomy department—were able to interest a
few of their scientific colleagues in these findings.
Meanwhile, in the state capital of Des Moines, an unusual collabora-
tion of public officials wanted to address a major environmental
symptom of the farming crisis: groundwater pollution. In 1987, a bi-
partisan group of legislators was able to pass the Groundwater
Protection Act, creating the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture
at ISU. This became the first sustainable agriculture program at a land-
grant university in the farm belt. Its mission was to conduct research into
the negative impacts of agricultural practices, to help develop alternative,
sustainable practices, and to work with the university's extension system
to educate the public about these findings. It was to be funded with state
fees on pesticide and nitrogen fertilizer sales. It was bitterly opposed by
the agrochemical industry, but the severity of the farm crisis created the
right context for the bill's passage.
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Practical Farmers of Iowa and the Leopold Center at ISU have devel-
oped an extraordinarily close and fruitful partnership since the late
1980s. DeWitt enhanced the legitimacy of alternative agriculture at ISU.
The Leopold Center provided PFI office space, and ISU provided PFI
staff the status of university employees. The Leopold Center provided
substantial funding to PFI farmers to conduct on-farm research and
extension. As a public interest organization, PFI was able to draw
attention to the good work of the Leopold Center, and it has fought pas-
sionately to defend its viability and budget. Inspired by this partnership,
ISU has created graduate studies programs in sustainable agriculture.
Partnerships like the Wisconsin graziers' networks and the PFI/Leopold
Center do more than reverse the logic of industrial agriculture. They
bridge the gap between universities and the practical needs of farmers,
and they reverse the collapse of hope in rural communities. Before he
retired, John Pesek chaired the National Research Council's Committee
on the Role of Alternative Farming Methods in Modern Production
Agriculture, which in 1989 produced the landmark report
Alternative
Agriculture
.
12
Back in Wisconsin, a coalition of farmer and environmental organiza-
tions, including the Wisconsin Rural Development Center and the
